The Living House -- A Really Different Way to Grow Roses
Rambling roses are one type that will cover walls, either from top to bottom or bottom to top. They will also cover "ceilings" quite effectively. The roses I have described above, however, are called "groundcover roses." Extremely useful for covering trouble spots like hard-to-mow slopes, they are also a good way to create low-growing area rugs in your rose-house.
The most famous groundcover rose of the day is the "Flower Carpet" rose -- the one in the bright pink pot. If you believe it's press clippings, this rose (available in bright pink, and now in white) is the answer to all gardeners prayers, and a perfect blanket of low-growing bloom. Maybe. Maybe not. But it's a nice rose all the same. Grow it, or any of the other groundcover roses in small beds dotted around the "room".
Back to the house. You want to make the entrance really special. This is where tree roses come in handy. A matched pair flanking the entrance make elegant and colorful topiary. Just remember that unless you live in zone 8 or higher, these will have to come into the real house, or some sheltered place for the cold season. Tree roses are grafted at least once and probably twice, and a cold spell could spell sudden death to the tender grafted parts.
And once you've gone through that front door? Furniture, of course! Start with a bed of roses. Call me crazy, but I'm dying to try this one. In my barn is an antique iron bed, complete with frame. If I set it up and used miniature climbers to twine around the headboards, then planted the frame with more miniature roses, just high enough to create a mattress effect -- well, you won't find a more gorgeous bed cover anywhere! For a smoother, more even effect you could plant the "mattress" area with box, or holly or a fine textured conifer that's amenable to clipping. Most evergreens suitable for s topiary would work -- and you could even fashion a "pillow" from them. If you still want a flowered spread, plant clematis or someother flowering vine to grow on top.
To complete the picture, you need a living chair or two. These are not made of roses, but of living trees -- not quite so thorny! But since this is a fantasy house, why not some fantastic furniture?
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